Newsom signs bill allowing Arizona abortion doctors to work in California

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: Politico

05/23/2024 05:58 PM EDT


SACRAMENTO, California — Gov. Gavin Newsom quietly signed a new law to allow some doctors from Arizona to become temporarily licensed in California to perform abortions for their patients.

Newsom’s office announced without a signing ceremony on Thursday that Senate Bill 233 will go into effect immediately, just a month after first trumpeting the idea on MSNBC. “Arizona Republicans tried to turn back the clock to 1864 to impose a near-total abortion ban across their state,” Newsom said in a statement. “We refuse to stand by and acquiesce to their oppressive and dangerous attacks on women.”

Why it matters: Newsom and the state Legislature have been trying to position California as a haven for reproductive rights and abortion care since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the national right to abortion in 2022. The new law is one of various actions California has taken since then to offer greater access to abortion seekers both from inside and outside the state.

Inside the bill: Licensed Arizona physicians who have performed an abortion in the last two years can apply for a temporary California license, and if they qualify, receive it in five days. They’ll only be allowed to provide abortion care and only through November 30, 2024.

Read more: https://www.politico.com/news/2024/05/23/newsom-arizona-abortion-doctors-00159748

[LiberalFighter]

1. I would think it could be a longer period.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

2. That date suggests they're hoping a big blue tsunami washes away the manufactured problem.

[LiberalFighter]

3. Except Congress doesn't convene until January 3.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

4. Still looks like a political message, to me. I could easily be wrong.

[NanaCat]

11. Newsom may be expecting a tsunami

At the state level in Arizona.

Not everything is about the federal level, you know.

[BumRushDaShow]

5. AZ did repeal the 1864 law but for that to go into effect, there will need to be a 90 day waiting period

that STARTS after the state legislature adjourns.

So since they haven't adjourned yet, that creates a longer gap period where abortions are still banned until that old law's repeal gets activated, which then allows their newer law passed in 2022, to take precedence again (that one allowed abortions but with a 15 week restriction).

Normally the state legislature adjourns in June (or July), and ASSUMING they DO adjourn (and there has been concern that they would spitefully not do so), then the latest that the newer law would be back in effect again, would be October 2024.

I expect the CA law probably has what amounts to a 6 month limitation to align with some other statutes requiring no more than that (maybe as some kind of "temporary health emergency" thing).

[ZonkerHarris]

6. extending if necessary is easy

[Martin68]

7. Give jobs to doctors providing health care to women that have been denied in Arizona. Morally, ethically, medically and

scientifically valid. Only something a liberal could understand.

[dflprincess]

8. Not unlike the only clinic in North Dakota that offered abortions

moving across the Red River from Fargo, ND to Moorhead, MN. At least if you had to already plan a trip to Fargo, it only added a few miles to your trip.

[riversedge]

9. Yes, but: Arizona's abortion ban has not yet taken effect - and it may never be imposed.

I am glad the CA is in effect--even if only till end of Nov.


................It goes into effect immediately and runs through Nov. 30.

Yes, but: Arizona's abortion ban has not yet taken effect – and it may never be imposed.

The Arizona Supreme Court granted Attorney General Kris Mayes' request to further delay enforcement of the ban until Sept. 26.
If the Legislature adjourns by June 28, the ban will likely never be enforced because the repeal passed earlier this month will take effect 90 days after the end of the session.

Still, Newsom's office says this "provides a critical stopgap for Arizona patients and providers" if the ban does take effect...............................

[BumRushDaShow]

10. There is a gap that CA wanted to cover

in case the AZ legislature does NOT adjourn when they normally do (apparently they don't have to). I.e., if they wait until later in July or even August, then that pushes the 90 days into October/November.